Improvement in sealing fruit-cans



H. S. FISHER.

Fruit Can.

AM PHOTO-LITHQCDNX. (OSBORNE'S PROCESS.)

Patented Mar. 22, 1864.

Inventp r= UNITED STATES PATENT OFF CE. 1*

HENRY s. FISHER, OF NEWBURG, rEN nsYLvANIAf IMPROVEMENT IN SEALING FRUIT-CANS, 81.0.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 41,9 85, dated March 22, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY S. FISHER, of Newburg, county of Cumberland, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Sealing Preserve-Cans, 850.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification in which Figure 1 is a diametrical section through a sealed glass jar. Figure 2 is a. top view thereof. Fig. 3 is a diametrical section through a sealed earthenware jar. Fig. 4 is a top view of the same. Fig. 5 is a diametrical section through a sealed tin can. Fig. 6 is a top view of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a view of the sealing-gasket employed in the jars and can above represented.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The object of my invention is to hermetically seal preserve jars, cans, 850., by means of self-sealing elastic and compressible gaskets acted upon by clamping and retaining devices applied to the cans or jars, as will be hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will describe its construction and operation. I

In the accompanying drawings, Figs. 1 and 2 represent a preserve-jar, which is made of glass, and constructed with a central opening, a, through its top, which is surrounded by a bead or narrow flange, b, projecting outward. Surrounding this flange b is a fiat surface, (2, adapted for receiving the gasket (1. This gasket (1 and the opening a is covered by a disk, 0, which has a flat margin surrounding its dished center, as clearly shown in Fig.- 1. The cover 6 is confined in its place over the opening a and gasket 01 by means of a rod, f, which is forced down under the hooked portions of two lugs, g g, formed on the top of the jar diametrically opposite each other, as shown.

The jar ofFigs. 2 and 3 is made of earthenware or stoneware, and may be constructed precisely like the glass jars above described. It'is preferable in this kind of jars tojorm a raised annular flange around the flat or plain surface 0, as I have represented, for the purpose of allowing cement to be spread over the entire top of the jar, if this should be deemed necessary. The lugs g g are formed in the flange-c, as in the glass jar, with this exception, that the lug g is merely perforated to receive the end of the confining rod,f.

The metal can (shown in Figs. 5 and 6) is constructed like the glass jar, with the excep tion that one end of the confining-rodf is held down by a staple or eye fastening, g, the

other end being held in place by the lug g.

The gaskets which I employ in conjunction with these jars, and interpose between the flat annular margin of the covers 0 and the corresponding surfaces of the cans or jars, as above described, are composed of india-rubber, gutta-percha, or other elastic and compressible material, covered or coated with a cement, which may be made of equal parts, or thereabouts, of beeswax and rosin, which will become soft and adhesive when warmed and hard when again cooled. This cementing coating may be applied to the rubberin sheets or to the rings or gaskets after they are cut out, and it maybe applied either by dipping the rubber in the heated composition, or by means of a brush.

The advantage of the cement-coating is to form a selfadhesive or sealing-gasket, which will form a tight joint by applying it to the can while the contents thereof are warm, and clamping it down in its place, as above described; and the advantage of the rubber or gutta-percha as abody or substance for the gaskets is that it accommodates itself to the uneven surfaces between which the gaskets are confined. The rubber is especially useful for sealing jars which are made of glass, stoneware, or earthen-ware, as the surfaces of such jars are always more or less uneven and filled with interstices, which will be filled up or closed by the rubber and its coating. The value of this property in rubber and guttapercha is well known for this purpose, but the objection to the use of rubber has hitherto been its destructibility, and the bad taste and smell which it imparts to the contents of the ars.

By my mode of preparing rubber with a coating of cement, it is not only rendered more durable, but ibis well adapted for my acomposition such as specified in combination purpose in every other respects, with a preserve can or jar and cap, 6, and re- Having thus described my invention, what taming device f, substantially as described;

I claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is- Witnesses:

The use of indie-rubber or gutta-percha. PHILIP LONG, gaskets, coated on both sdes or surfaces with ADAM GOOVER.

HENRY S. FISHER. 

